[Basement bound]

I hate you! (the voice of my envy)

[NukleoN]

GREAT! Killer lighting..oh I need to work on mu lighting...

[palladia mors]

That is simply breathtaking...! I wish I could do the same.....blagh..."maybe" in 10 years or so.
but hey spooge, is there a texture under the pic/did you just paint over it or what? looks absolutely fantastic!

[Rhomb]

I was about say same as agent there, really. I think it's closer to Pyle compositionwise and even style wise... Definitely more narrative than your captain in the cabin pic... ah, what do I know. The main thing is it tells a story and I really enjoy looking at it.

-Ville

[Dives]

you are going for tha artsy look?
i muself preder the high res sutff...

[n8]

of course hes great!!...he teaches this stuff doesnt he??..itd be pretty bad if u were learning how to paint n draw from somebody that was crap..
nice image btw

[Prometheus-ANJ]

You work in 2 layers right? One painting layer and one transparent layer with "random lines" to add some pseudo detail and spontainiosity?

I've seen your site and I have to say I'm amazed by your work. You seem to be able to represent a lot of detail with a few accurate lines, something that takes a lot of talent and practice to achieve.

[JOYSUKE]

really fantanstic.....

[schabe]

awesome pic. the drawing and colors are so vivid. great atmosphere.

[Poprocksz]

It's go to see that Pirates are still drawn.....everyone is so obssessed with
elves and ogre's.I don't know anyone who draws Pirates or boats anymore.......it's
all knights and spaceships. So never stop.

[Sempere]

This is the most awesome Pirate MOVIE I have ever seen !!!

[A.Buttle]

Have you been watching the The Goonies, spooge?

Do you ever paint differently than this? We can all see that you've got a gift for creating dynamic, actionful (it's a word now, damn it) scenes full of light and dark contrasts and guys with knives. But what about something more subdued, more subtle? Perhaps something more refined?

[Loki]

Buttle - have you never visited Craig's website? I think Craig really enjoys doing loose stuff like this, because the has to work so tightly in his commercial images. And I think it's some kind of R&D foer him - trying out different things that had been floating around in his head ...

If you want to see supertight stuff, go look at Danny's "Lara my love" image again ...

[6 hen 2 kids & a red]

sooooo nice

[ May 12, 2001: Message edited by: 6 hen 2 kids & a red sow ]

[spooge demon]

Hehe, I started out on this forum doing paintings like this and about half of the replies were of puzzlement. �It�s sloppy! Why don�t you finish this?� Either I am getting better at it (I hope) or people are getting used to it? I think I am getting better at it, and that was the idea. I think I am isolating what is important and eliminating the rest, but I am also making the surface more and more complex, but in control. I am about 80 percent happy with this, which is better than I have been doing in the past.

Axo, The shadow and lights come from thinking clearly about the form and the lighting condition that is present. Drawing from life a lot is the best way to get this under your skin.

Collismo, thanks! This is really the subject I guess, not pirates and ships.

Narcissa, yes there are a lot of good folks here, and a huge variety in styles and approaches. Can be confusing if you are starting out�

Sarge, thanks!

Dixter

Speed3d, Yes, this is the tightrope I have been feeling- what do I get with the loss of explicit form? Like the French Impressionists, I have been after an effect of light and an environment, sometimes at the expense of drawing and form. Sometimes I go too far.

Joachim, you have been posting a lot, I have been enjoying it all a lot.

Hi Jenn, thanks

Freddio, Yes, glad I am alive, but sometimes I fee I am an anachronism. But thanks for that rather extreme compliment.

Morgoth,. Working to eliminate the superfluous can be hard work, and that is what I have been trying to do with all these forum sketches. Try it if you like it, but whatever you end up doing, think about what you are doing really hard, it is difficult to consciously do something that is different than your usual way of working.

I think it is ironic that now some people think this way is my normal approach

Gimbal, Thanks for seeing the concern for balance, I hope it is balanced in many ways. Yes, those Sargent notes make more and more sense with every re-reading, and the more you know, the more they make sense. But also see that even Sargent acknowledges there are many ways to go about things.

Frost, I had in mind that the ship was tilting, maybe I should have made a few more recognizable shapes that would tell the eye that this was so, so everything would reinforce each other.
I hafve always been able to set up a value system, that came easy, everything else is a pain and I had to fight for it, and still am.

Visigoth, I am happy you see value in this, sep since your work is so opposite in approach. Some aspects are very sloppy, some controlled, and the contrast between makes interest (?)

Francis- that�s what I have been working to hear!

Squeal, don�t jump off a bridge just yet, you are really getting somewhere. It may seem a clich�, but learning is really the fun-est part, so the farther you feel you have to go, the more amazing discoveries you have ahead of you

Bishop

Digitalmar- I did that tank QT, ftp://ftp.goodbrush.com/tank.mov Is that what you are meaning?

Silybum, my wife sees my pirates as looking a little gay. I just get all flustered at those prominent cheekbones

Awetopsy- thanks!

Milkman- Don�t hold you breathe for FF. I range from looking forward to it and then 10 minutes later dreading it. I am sure others who have worked on it feel the same way.

Gambit, Glad you like the pics, but don�t think these are accurate in any sense. Just a feeling is all am after, like a bad movie or something.

Wyatt,

Agent44, Glad you see fit to include me in the same sentence as those guys� Wait, you did not say as good as� hehe. Well it�s not, but I have another 40 years or so to try.

Rhomb, yes, story has been a concern of mine in these forum things. Story telling is not generally a part of matte work.

Dives, artsy? Hmmm� like Thomas Kincaid? Ugh. It is pretty high rez, about 3500 pix across�

Opticillusion- Yes a mess, I love it. I think I am also concerned with the abstract quality of the paint to some degree, and am getting more into this, esp with the oil painting I have been doing.

Plant man, thanks!

Tepox- That is a good way to check your values, yes, but sometimes you can separate things with color as well. I am learnig a lot about color. There is still so much to explore.

Basement hound

Nucleon- Work on everything else, and the lighting takes care of itself.

Palladia- yes you can see the printing texture very clearly. It is a scan from a magazine of some flowers

Thanks N8

Anj77 spontainiosity? Cool word. With these sketches I work with the BG layer and then a working layer. I paint for 10 minutes, switch the working layer on and off, see if it looks better or worse, and either merge or delete depending on the verdict. I paint this way since I sometimes fall back into bad habits and paint dumb. Gotta stay sharp and focused.

Joysuke


Thanks Hen!

And schabe

Poprocksz yes, I guess that I like pirates because they seem to be an overlooked genre at the moment. I like the other stuff too�

Sempere- pirate movie? Where?

Buttle- Is the goonies a movie? Never heard of it. I have been struggling to paint like this for over a year now. I am not sure what you mean by more subtle refined, etc. You mean subject, technique, value range?

Thanks Loki, yes, I would go insane working like Danny. Where is Danny? I have not seen him around for a while. And when are you coming painting?

[topeira]

creat piece as always , mr. mullins.
awsome values

though the full sized ver added nothing to the smaller one

[Collosimo]

Hey, big reply Craig...thx for that. I read it all despite onl one line being to me.. hehe, you can learn things, if not from your responses, then from the motivation that comes from the questions.

Values... I think I understand what to do with them, but am a little unsure... I mean, they can add depth, and form etc... but how do you balance it out over a whole image? is it based on a subject focus.. or...?

[A.Buttle]

Loki, yeah I've seen the site. I was just wondering why all of his images recently have looked like this. I'm not saying it's bad. I rather like these loose pirate images. I was just wondering if it served some greater purpose or whatever. I completely fucked up that last sentence. Oh well. I think you get my meaning.

Spooge, I think you and Loki answered my question already. By subtle I meant in values and technique with "refined." Man, my English today is really bad. I feel like a short bus kid.

And, NEVER HEARD OF THE GOONIES? What the hell? Where were you during the 80s? That's got to be one the greatest film of all time. I sentence you to go the Blockbuster and rent The Goonies right now! I want a full report!